This invention pertains to a new and improved toy for loading a vehicle as the vehicle moves past a loading station. It is possible to refer to such toys as "transfer" toys since they transfer such an object from a loading station to a vehicle.
Toys which are most closely related to the toys of the present invention are commonly utilized as parts of composite toys constructed so as to include an endless track having an unloading station or structure for removing an object from a vehicle at one side of the track and a chute for conveying such an object to a loading station on the other side of the track where the object is loaded on the vehicle as the vehicle moves around the track. Such toys are commonly constructed so that the vehicle is physically stopped at the loading station so as to power an appropriate attention getting mechanism at the time the object is located upon the vehicle.
Toys of this type are considered to be most commonly utilized with such an object constructed as a simulated figurine consisting of a body and a ball rotatably mounted at the bottom of the body so as to extend therefrom. Such figurings are commonly referred to as "ball people". They are normally constructed so as to be capable of moving through the action of gravity along an inclined surface so as to follow the incline of such a surface. They are also of such a character as to be capable of being moved along a horizontal surface as a result of force being applied to their bodies.
It is commonly recognized that transfer toys as are indicated in the preceding discussion hold a great deal of fascination with comparatively young children. One of the problems in connection with the prior toys of the type noted has concerned the problem of how to design a transfer mechanism for transferring an object from a loading platform to a moving vehicle which is simple, inexpensive, comparatively easy to construct, and reliable. Another problem has involved how to design a toy as indicated which has these characteristics and yet which is of such a nature that a child may manipulate the toy to a degree so as to achieve either a loading or an unloading action in such a manner as to simulate the child's imagination.